- A Trump administration official said over 40,000 federal workers had taken the buyout as of Wednesday.
- They said the number was “growing” — but it’s not yet half the White House’s most modest goal.
- On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily delayed the deadline for accepting the buyout.
More than 40,000 federal employees have taken the Trump administration up on its buyout offer, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management said Thursday. The number is from Wednesday, the spokesperson said, and “growing.”
The stat comes amid new confusion about the buyout offer, which the Trump administration said would let employees stop working but maintain full pay and benefits until September 30. On Thursday, just hours ahead of the deadline for the buyout, a federal judge temporarily delayed the decision date to at least Monday following a lawsuit filed by a group of labor unions.
When it announced the “deferred resignation” offer, the White House said it expected between 5% and 10% of federal employees to take the deal. The federal government employs more than 2 million people, which means between 100,000 and 200,000 people — or over double the current figure — would need to resign to meet the administration’s goal.
In a typical year, more than 100,000 federal workers voluntarily leave their jobs, according to the Partnership for Public Service, amounting to an average attrition rate of 6% a year.
A representative for Democracy Forward, which represented one of the groups that filed the lawsuit that led to the delay, told Business Insider that OPM was now required to tell federal employees there’s no longer a deadline to accept deferred resignations. On Thursday morning, before the judge’s ruling, federal employees were told the deadline wouldn’t be extended, according to an email reviewed by BI.
Federal employees previously told BI that they’re not confident they would be fully paid if they accepted the offer. With the decision date for accepting the buyout now in question, it’s unclear how the Trump administration will proceed.
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